"Who is outside?" someone in the room asked.
Anfey did not answer. He only looked around. The room was decorated very simply. Besides a table and two chairs, there was nothing else. It was cold and humid in the room. Obviously, the fireplace was not lit. It was winter, so sleeping in the room without a fire was no different than sleeping outside.
The light was turned on in the room. An old man carefully opened the door with a torch in one hand and a knife in the other. He yelled, "What are you doing here? I am going to call the police."
"Shinon, don’t you remember me?" Anfey said, smiling.
Shinon was shocked for a second. Now he was able to see the two unexpected guests with the help of the torch. The guy was handsome, while the woman looked sweet and beautiful. He thought Anfey and Suzanna were burglars. They did not look like they could be burglars. Hearing Anfey say his name, Shinon was even more surprised. "You are…"
"Didn’t I tell you my name when I asked you to see Anthony. I asked you to ask for some rewards from Anthony. I also left you some gold coins. Why are you still so poor?" Anfey said.
"Master?" Shinon could not help raising his voice and looking surprised. He immediately remembered something. "Steel pipe."
Anfey was shocked for a second before he tried to remember the secret codes. "Stomach" Anfey did not have bad memories, but the problem was it had been so long since he talked to Shinon. He kind of remembered the secret code he told Shinon in case they made contact. He just could not remember exactly what the code was. He had to take a guess with deductive reasoning.
"You are the master!" Shinon rushed over and kneeled in front of Anfey. He had tossed the knife and torch to the side.
"What are you doing? Get up, get up." Anfey held his hand out and pulled Shinon up.
"Master, I knew you would come back." Shinon had tears of joy in his eyes.
Anfey looked perplexed. He had saved Shinon but did not expect anything from him in return. He had asked Shinon to see Anthony because he did not have other choices. He felt like he had a relationship with Shinon. Of course, that was how Anfey thought of them, but Shinon obvious felt differently than Anfey.
Seeing Shinon really appreciate Anfey, Anfey felt uneasy. He smiled and changed the subject. "Shinon, didn’t Anthony give you any reward? Look at your life now," Anfey said.
"Anthony was very generous. He gave me ten gold coins," Shinon said.
"Then why are you…" Anfey asked.
"Anthony was very nice to me because of you. Later he got to know my son was still in jail and asked his people to get my son out." Shinon wiped his tears. "Later I had my son join the Glory mercenary group. I knew master would come back. Master told me to collect information about four super mercenary groups, so I gave all the money to my son to have him socialize with people. I hoped he could collect more information this way," Shinon said.
"You…" Anfey slightly shook his head.
"Master, are you coming back for something?" Shinon asked.
"Yes." Anfey hesitated for a second. "Are you able to see Anthony?"
"Yes, Master. Anthony told me last time that I could see him directly if I have any information." Shinon reached his hand into his shirt and took out a badge carved with an angel. "This is what Master Anthony gave me."
"Great." Anfey nodded. "Can you tell Anthony I want to see him. About the place and time? I will see him tomorrow before dawn in the woods ten miles south town."
"Master, do you want me to see Anthony now?" Shinon asked.
"Yes, do you have time now?" Anfey asked.
"Sure." Shinon did not want to wait. He turned around and was ready to walk out. He paused after a few steps. "Master, I still do not know your name. Do I need to tell Anthony your name?"
"You do not need to know my name," Anfey said.
"Ok," Shinon said.
Seeing Shinon disappear through the door, Suzanna said quietly, "Anfey, he is such an honest person. We should not have asked him to take such risks." Suzanna felt bad for Shinon. It was dangerous to see Anthony. It would be great if he could talk with Anthony, but Shinon and his son would be in trouble if Anthony had any problems with Shinon.
"I know, so I was a little hesitant," Anfey said with concern.
"Why did you not ask those spies to see Anthony?" Suzanna asked.
"Do you still remember what happened in Zagreen City? You killed all the Knights and Prients of Light," Anfey said.
"Yes, what about it?" Suzanna asked.
"General Baery told me two of them were our people," Anfey said quietly. "You do not know how much money, effort, and time we have to put into training a qualified spy. Whatever happened in Zagreen City was no one’s fault, but I still felt a little guilty about it. I can not cause any more losses."
Suzanna gave a slight sigh, but did not say anything.
"Let’s see what kind of luck Shinon has. After this, I won’t trouble him," Anfey said slowly. "He has a tough life."
As the clock ticked away, Anfey sensed his surroundings with telepathy for a moment and stopped. Telepathy was not unlimited. He could not predict what would happen in the next few days, so he had to keep his fighting ability at its best. He could not waste any unnecessary telepathy.
Without knowing how much time had passed by, Anfey’s body suddenly stiffened. He jumped from the chair. Suzanna was shocked for a second and looked at Anfey in surprise. In her memory, Anfey rarely lost his cool.
"We were betrayed by Shinon," Anfey said coldly. He could sense a few hundred soldiers travelling toward them along the main road and some mages flying in the distance. There were not many mages on Pan Continent. The civilization on Pan Continent was not developed well enough to pay attention to environmental protection. Therefore, there were only few trees in White Mountain City, which greatly affected Anfey’s sensing ability. He could not have a full view of the city, but his sensing had proved everything.
"What to do?" What Suzanna said was not helping. Since they had been betrayed, they had to fight now. Suzanna’s question indicated she had listened completely to Anfey. In other words, Suzanna had become dependent on Anfey out of instinct.
"Kill them," Anfey said angrily, with hatred in his voice. It was not a big deal to be betrayed. The problem was he felt bad for Shinon not long ago, which made him feel he was played.
With a huge crash, the door in the yard was kicked to pieces. The sudden loud noise scared the soldiers who were jogging along the street outside the yard. Anfey and Suzanna walked to the street together. Cold wind with high humidity in the air helped Anfey regain his calm as wind blew on his face.
People were not machines, so they would make mistakes. Seeing the soldiers in armor with weapons, Anfey knew they must not be mercenaries. He could not sense the exact direction these soldiers were running. To be more specific, the soldiers were advancing along the main street. Obviously, whether or not these soldiers were looking for Anfey, they did not know his exact location.
Anfey was too impatient! He took a deep breath. He had asked Shinon to see Anthony and then noticed groups of soldiers in armor running nearby. In fact, probably most people would think they were betrayed, but how could Anfey define himself as a regular person. Anfey had not noticed that his mistakes were not just due to impatience. He did not recognized himself as special and different than others.
People’s personalities kept changing. Anfey was not the old Anfey anymore, especially after he killed Master Swordsman Deswright. Anfey’s confidence had reached an unprecedented level. If he dared to see Anthony, it meant he was not afraid of Anthony and Michael joining together to fight him. Of course, Anfey was still cautious, so he borrowed the pieces of War God Will Power from Hui Wei. Within Antimagic Terra, he was confident he could kill Archmage Michael with one strike.
Anfey did not realize what he imagined was based on one condition: he needed to attack first. The surprise attack on Michael indeed gave Anfey a high chance to kill him with one strike. In other words, his plan was made from the perspective of an assassin. However, killing a top power was not just about assassination. The plan was made by an assassin, while the fighting was done by a paladin. The deviation in planning usually would cause a far different result than planned. It was hard for Anfey to notice the miscalculation in his plans and real actions.
"Rush out. I will cover you," Anfey said quickly.
Suzanna gave a quick nod. She turned around and ran fast to the end of the street. She gradually released her combat power, which covered her whole body with a cloud of gold light.
A mage close to Anfey had released lightning magic. Of all magic series, Fire series magic was the most powerful, Space magic was the most mysterious, while Electronic series magic was difficult because of its unbelievably high speed.
With his strong telepathy plus the internal force running fast through his body, his anti-magic ability was supposed to be way better than others, but Anfey was not very lucky today. Lightning could not hurt him, but it shocked him. He could not move at all for two or three seconds.
The flashing lightning became a signal for the battle. Groups of soldiers in armors with weapons ran into Anfey’s sensing range. Anthony dared not to stop. He raised a gigantic Fire Shield over his head and adjusted his internal force to the maximum. He went after Suzanna.